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Reporters Without Borders said in it’s 2005 special report titled “Xinhua: the world’s biggest propaganda agency”, that “Xinhua remains the voice of the sole party”, “particularly during the SARS epidemic, Xinhua has for last few months been putting out news reports embarrassing to the government, but they are designed to fool the international community, since they are not published in Chinese.”

Archive for the ‘Shanxi’ Category

Reporters Without Borders hails investigative journalist Xie Chaoping’s release on bail in Weinan (in Shaanxi province) on 17 September for lack of evidence. After being held for 29 days for writing a book about the Sanmenxia Dam entitled “The Great Migration,” he has been able to return to Beijing.

“Xie’s release is excellent news but now he must he now be quickly cleared of the charges of illegal commercial activity that the Weinan authorities brought against him,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We call for the release of the printer who was also accused of illegal commercial activity for printing his book. It is still not known what has happened to him.” Read the rest of this entry »

Zhao Shun, a printer from the northeastern province of Hebei, was arrested earlier this week by the authorities of Weinan, in the central province of Shaanxi. The reason for his arrest has not been announced, but it was Zhao who printed “The Great Migration,” a book by journalist Xie Chaoping that seems to have been the reason for Xie’s arrest in Weinan on 19 August.

“Two men are now being held for writing and printing this book about the human impact of the Sanmenxia Dam, which was built across the Yellow River during Mao’s Great Leap Forward in the 1950s,” Reporters Without Borders said. “When will the Chinese authorities accept that journalists and academics can write about contemporary Chinese history without posing a threat?”

The press freedom organisation added: “We appeal to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to intercede on behalf of Xie and Zhao and obtain their release without delay.”

Both Zhao’s family and Xie’s wife confirmed the arrest of Zhao, who printed Xie’s book in the form of a supplement in the newspaper Huohua (The Spark). More information about Xie’s detention: http://en.rsf.org/china-journalist-&#8230;

Xie’s lawyer said the police forced Xie to name the printer. Colleagues of Zhao have also been interrogated by the police.

A Chinese researcher specialising in journalists’ rights said the probable outcome of the arrests would be that those involved in publishing the book would be prosecuted on charges of “illegal commercial practices.”

Friends, family, and the international community sighed a breath of relief when Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng made contact with the public on Sunday, March 28th. Gao says he’s now free after he went missing for more than a year when Chinese security agents took him from his home.

Chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party Albert Ho believes recent international pressure on the Chinese regime to account for Gao’s disappearance prompted Gao’s apparent claim of freedom. But Ho believes Gao is still under threat. Ho’s two assistants spoke with Gao.

[Albert Ho, Chairman of Hong Kong Democratic Party]:

“We felt that he was not freely expressing himself, and believe he was being watched. He may even be speaking under great threat. Their goal is just to tell you that Gao is still alive.”

This suspicion is shared by many who’ve spoken with Gao. Beijing-based human rights lawyer Li Heping told Radio Free Asia that Gao was eager to get off the phone.

[Li Heping, Beijing Human Rights Lawyer]:
“When I spoke with him on the phone, I clearly felt he wasn’t free. We only spoke for two to three minutes, and then he sighed and said, ‘I’ll call you later when it’s convenient, now I have some friends around and some things to take care of.’ And he wanted to hang up. It’s clear that someone was hinting to him not to speak any more.”

Albert Ho says the Chinese regime must give a clear explanation for why Gao is still not free.

[Albert Ho, Chairman of Hong Kong Democratic Party]:
“He has no freedom to move around, no freedom to work, and he cannot contact the outside to express himself freely. Regarding the freedom that’s been taken away from him, I believe the Chinese government has the responsibility to give an explanation.”

Gao previously published an account of the severe torture he endured when he was captured by Chinese authorities in 2007. For now, concerns for Gao’s safety remain. (by NTD TV)

One of China’s most prominent human-rights lawyers, who went missing a year ago, resurfaced mysteriously yesterday with a series of cryptic telephone calls from a Buddhist mountain retreat.

Gao Zhisheng, a prominent dissident, said he was “free at present” but refused to say exactly where he was in northern China amid speculation that he was being followed by the authorities. “I just want to be in peace and quiet for a while and be reunited with my family,” Mr Gao, whose wife and children fled to the US just before he went missing, said in one telephone call.

“Most people belong with family,” he added. “I have not been with mine for a long time. This is a mistake and I want to correct this mistake.”

Mr Gao was one of a new breed of civil-liberties lawyers who took on sensitive cases involving underground Christians and the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement before a series of run-ins with the authorities.

He vanished on 4 February last year while out walking in his home town in central China, sparking speculation that he had been “disappeared” by security forces because of his previous work and criticisms of the government over rights abuses.

Amid mounting international concern over his fate, the Foreign Secretary David Miliband raised the issue during a visit to China earlier this month, but his Chinese counterpart provided only vague explanations about where he was. The United States and the European Union had previously called on China to investigate his disappearance.

Mr Gao said that he was living in Wutai Shan, a mountain range famous as a Buddhist retreat. But he declined to answer further questions, saying he was not allowed by law, according to Associated Press. Bans on interviews are often a condition of parole.

Li Heping, a Beijing-based human-rights lawyer and friend of Mr Gao’s, said he had also reached him on his mobile phone and they had spoken briefly. Mr Li believed Mr Gao was being followed by authorities. “I believe he does not have freedom,” he said. “First, when we were speaking, he sounded like he wanted to hang up. He told me that he had friends around him. I’m sure that the people around him are limiting what he can say.

“Secondly, he would not tell me exactly where he is when I suggested visiting him,” Mr Li said. “We are very concerned about his situation.”

Mr Gao was convicted of “inciting subversion” at a one-day trial in 2006 after representing individuals persecuted for their religious beliefs and was placed under house arrest.

State media said he was convicted on the basis of articles published on foreign websites. The following year, he wrote an open letter to the US Congress detailing human-rights abuses in the country, for which he was arrested and tortured, according to rights groups.

In a statement made public just before he disappeared last year, he described severe beatings from Chinese security forces, electric shocks to his genitals, and cigarettes held to his eyes during a 2007 detention. His torturers described his torment as a 12-course meal, according to the document, and accused of him of being a traitor. “This is China. It is the Communist Party’s territory,” he claimed he was told. Mr Gao said he was beaten until his eyes became swollen shut.

The constant police surveillance wore on his wife and children and they fled China a month before he disappeared.
– The Independent

ANDREW JACOBS, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, March 30, 2010 –
BEIJING: Gao Zhisheng, the Chinese rights activist who has been missing for more than a year, has reappeared near his home town in northern China.

In a brief phone call, Mr Gao said he was no longer in police custody but he could not give any details of his predicament. ”I’m fine now but I’m not in a position to be interviewed,” he said. ”I’ve been sentenced but released.”

Mr Gao, 44, told Reuters he had been released about six months ago and was at Wutai mountain, beloved of Buddhist pilgrims because of its many shrines. He said he wanted ”a quiet life” and to rejoin his family.

But friends and human rights groups said they remained concerned about his situation since he seemed to be under surveillance and unable to speak freely.

Since Mr Gao disappeared into the custody of public security staff in February last year, the Chinese government has provided a series of contradictory and cryptic explanations of his whereabouts.

During a previous detention in 2006, Mr Gao said he was tortured by his captors. A lawyer and critic of the Chinese government, Mr Gao gained notoriety for his defence of the most marginalised citizens – farmers evicted from their land; members of underground Christian churches; and practitioners of Falun Gong, the outlawed spiritual movement.

In addition to his legal work, activists say Mr Gao probably infuriated the authorities by writing protest letters to China’s top leaders about the persecution of Falun Gong adherents and by publicly discussing the torture he says he endured.

A month before he disappeared his wife and two children evaded round-the-clock surveillance of their Beijing apartment and escaped to Thailand. They were granted asylum by the US and now live in New York.

Mr Gao’s wife, Geng He, told Agence France-Presse: ”I am tremendously relieved that my husband is alive. I just want Zhisheng to be with his family again. My children and I need him.”

Radio Free Asia, Mar. 29, 2010-
HONG KONG— A prominent Chinese civil rights lawyer whose whereabouts have been unknown for more than a year is alive, but has yet to regain full personal liberty, a friend and fellow lawyer said.

“When I spoke to him on the phone, I got the distinct impression that he wasn’t completely free,” Li said.

He said Gao, once a top defense lawyer lauded by the ruling Communist Party for his work on behalf of the least privileged in Chinese society, had been handed a suspended sentence for inciting subversion at a one-day secret trial in 2006.

“The three-year suspended sentence lasts for five years. That’s to say that if he commits no crime within five years, then he won’t have to serve the three year jail term,” said Li, who said people under suspended sentence are supposed to be granted liberty if no crime had been committed.

“In accordance with Chinese law, he is supposed to have his personal freedom,” said Li after speaking briefly with Gao.

Gao told Li he is currently staying near the sacred Buddhist mountain of Wutaishan, in northern China’s Shanxi province.

“During our three-minute conversation, he said, ‘Hey, why don’t I call you back later when it’s more convenient for me? Right now I have to do something with a few friends.’ Then he hung up,” Li said.

“I’m pretty sure that someone was indicating to him silently that he shouldn’t talk any more.”
Separated from family

Gao’s wife, Geng He, who along with the couple’s two children was granted political asylum in the United States recently, said she too had recently spoken with Gao.

“I am tremendously relieved that my husband is alive,” Geng said in a statement released by U.S-based political prisoners’ group Freedom Now.

“I am so happy that my children were able to speak to him,” Geng said, adding that she hoped her husband would be allowed to go to the United States as well.

Ming Xia, professor of politics at the City University of New York, said China’s ruling Communist Party had good reason to fear Gao.

“Firstly, he spoke out on behalf of victims of the anti-Falun Gong campaign and took on cases in which he defended them,” Xia said. “This is a hugely sensitive matter for the top echelons of China’s leadership, and it worries them very much.”

“The second is that Gao Zhisheng…is a person whose religious convictions are very strong, so he’s got God on his side.”

Xia said that confronted with a such a prominent activist fueled by religious faith, the authorities appeared to be trying to make the lawyer less relevant in contemporary Chinese society.

“If they don’t kill him outright, they will separate him from his family and make him die ideologically, and in terms of his social impact, and make society forget him,” Xia said.

“At the same time he no longer has the power to effect any public actions. That’s probably the basic line of reasoning which they are now in the process of implementing.”
Dangerous profession

Gao’s case has drawn international attention for the unusual length of his disappearance and for his own earlier graphic reports of the torture he said he endured in detention.

Born in poverty, Gao became a member of the Communist Party and was named by the government a decade ago as one of the 10 best lawyers in China.

He drew displeasure from Beijing by taking on cases related to corruption, religious freedom, and how the government has treated the Falun Gong movement—which the government has labeled a dangerous cult.

His law license was taken away, and in 2005 he resigned his Party membership.

Gao has given numerous interviews to foreign media, including graphic accounts of torture he said he suffered during another detention in 2007.

Civil rights lawyers and international rights advocates say the entire Chinese legal profession is under increasing strain, with many law firms losing their licenses—or being threatened that they will have their licenses revoked—should they choose to take on sensitive cases.

Millions of residents in northern China’s Shanxi Province were woken from their slumber on Feb. 21., before fleeing their homes in panic and packing the streets and parks seeking refuge outside despite the bitter cold.

According to Dahe.cn, an earthquake alarm sounded around 3:00 a.m. on Feb. 21 in Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Changzhi and Jicheng in northern China’s Shanxi Province. It was a spontaneous civilian act, an unofficial warning made with sirens over the public broadcasting system.

A Jinzhong resident wrote on the Internet, “I received more than 10 phone calls from my friends and family to get me out of the house. It felt like as if I was in the movie 2012!”

A Changzhi resident wrote, “My phones rang like crazy at 3 a.m. I went out and saw the streets were more crowded than I had ever seen.”

And a Taiyuan resident wrote, “It was miserable. I was woken up by a phone call at 4 a.m. and ran out of the house. The streets were packed with cars and people. Young people like me would be able to run fast enough if it was real, but I wondered how those with elders and children in their families would make it.”

Pressing concerns surfaced as residents began linking in their minds the earthquake with all the coal mining that has been going on in Shanxi Province. “How could people not worry?” one resident wrote, referring to a putatively hollowed-out underground in Shanxi. “I imagine the loss would be huge if an earthquake were indeed to happen!”

According to Dahe.cn, in rural areas such as Qixian, Pingyao and Zuoquan, an alarm was broadcast in every village to urge people to leave their houses, and some villagers even moved their appliances to the street to minimize the loss.

Later that morning in public statement the Seismological Bureau of Shanxi Province said: “A rumor about a damaging earthquake was spread among Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Changzhi and Jincheng residents early this morning, please do not believe it or spread it. Maintain your normal life and ensure continued production at work.”

Officials from related authorities in the Seismological Bureau of Shanxi Province said that according to the Management Act on Earthquake Forecasting, “Only provincial authorities are entitled to issue an earthquake prediction, no other entities or individuals have the right to do it.”

However, the statement was questioned by the public. A Shanxi resident wrote, “The more the Seismological Bureau denies a rumor, the more frightened people become. The denial is even scarier than the earthquake itself. Last time the Taiyuan Evening denied an earthquake prediction, but an earthquake indeed happened.”

Another resident wrote, “I don’t know where the rumor came from. I had no sleep last night, and everybody panicked. It was the result of the Seismological Bureau’s poor credibility – people would rather believe in rumors than the authorities.”

Another resident wrote, “As far as I can remember, it always starts as a rumor and ends in reality. Didn’t the Seismological Bureau of Wenchuan also deny the rumor? But look how devastating it was.”

Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province was the epicenter of the devastating earthquake of May 12, 2008, at a magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

SHANXI–In the aftermath following the detention of six Shuozhou pastors and the destruction of Brother Gao Mao’s home, members of Shuozhou have issued a Confession of Faith, affirming their doctrine and taking a stand in defense of their faith.

(Excerpt)

3. Why We Refuse to Join in the “Three-Self” Church

3.1. Different heads: the head of the “Three-Self” church is the government; they administrate the church based on religion policies. The head of the house church is Jesus Christ; we administrate the church in accordance to the Bible.

3.2. Different ways of appointing the clergies: The clergies of the “three-self” churches are appointed by the bureau of religious affairs; the house churches select clergies who are anointed by the Holy Spirit, equipped with the truth and spiritual gifts, recognized by the churches and bear spiritual fruits.

3.3. Different foundations: The three-self church is the product of the three-self revolution, which was initiated by Wu Yaozong, a social-evangelist and a few non-Christians.

3.4. Division of Opinions: The three-self church supports the unification of the government and the church; they choose to make compromise with the government’s policies on religions and participate in political movements. The house church, however, support the division of the government the church; they obey the government under the biblical principles. When the two conflicts, they choose to “obey God not men” and take up the Cross to follow God, regardless of the cost.

3.5. Different Missions: The three-self churches limit themselves to hold religious activities only at the registered churches. The house churches share the Gospel and nurture church members in diligence; they strive and develop in hardship.

China Aid, January 28, 2010 –
SHANXI— On November 17, 2009, nearly 600 Christian brothers and sisters gathered together in Yangshupo Village in Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. In the afternoon of November 18th, armed police guards arrived at the gathering site and besieged the group. The police detained all 500 house church attenders on the site for several hours, before arresting Ren Boqing, Jia Jun and Gao Wenjun, church members who drove vans to help bring many of the Christians to the church meeting.

Ren Boqing and Jia Jun were both charged with criminal detention for ‘evil cult involvement,’ a typical sentence for house church believers on November 19th; Gao Wenjun was arrested, but released on bail soon after, and is now awaiting news of criminal trial. Two locals, Ma Fei and Lin Zhengyuan, were additionally arrested on November 19, 2009, and have been criminally detained since for allegedly “participating in a cult.”

Brother Gao Mao, the group leader, was seized and immediately placed in criminal detention at the Detention Center of Pinglu District in Shuozhou. On November 20th, more than 400 police ransacked Mao’s home, stealing both valuables and daily necessities, such as blankets, food, oil, and removing Bibles and Hymnals from the site. They destroyed his entire property during the raid, inflicting close to 1.4 million RMB in damages and loss. In an attempt to cover-up the utter destruction of Gao’s home, the police immediately planted trees among the debris on the ground to conceal their tracks……. (more details from China Aid)

SHANXI— Huozhou City officials met on October 3rd to discuss results of the emergency meeting held on September 28th, where officials assembled to determine whether Linfen Fushan Church would be charged as an “evil cult.” Citing the need to preserve stability in the province, local officials had seized Linfen-Fushan Church’s Senior Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, his wife Yang Rongli, and more than ten co-leaders on September 25 for attempting to petition Beijing, and have since continued to hold them in detention. Three days after the arrests, the Fushan Government held the emergency meeting to determine whether the Linfen-Church violated Chinese laws on religion, which explicitly ban “evil cults.”

On October 3rd, the Religious Affairs Bureau of Huozhou (RAB) deemed the 50,000 member church to legitimate, but the government reported they would no longer tolerate the “gross violations and law-breaking actions” of Pastor Wang Xiaoguang and his wife Yang Rongli over the past ten years. The RAB reportedly listed these violations, but no legal record of these abuses have been issued or confirmed. According to an inside source, the officials expressed satisfaction that the ten church leaders were being held in their “rightful place” in administrative detention, and the government resolved that the situation must be fully “dealt with” in the upcoming weeks……. (more detals fromChina Aid)

On September 12, petitioner Liu Chunbao (刘纯宝), from Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, was stopped by policemen at a checkpoint in Xianghe County, Hebei Province while en route to Beijing. Liu, who did not have an ID card, alleges that he was beaten by an officer before being forcibly returned to his hometown by officials from the Beijing Liasion Office of the Liaoning Provincial Government. Liu is currently being held at a retirement home in Yingkou, under the watch of 8 guards. (CHRD)[i]

Shanxi Petitioner Detained after Traveling to Letters and Visits Office in Beijing

Xiaoyi City, Shanxi Province petitioner Bi Caizhen (毕彩珍) has been detained since she was seized outside of the National Letters and Visits Office in Beijing on September 23. Bi had travelled to the capital to petition about corruption at Shanxi’s Liuwan (湾煤) Coal Mine and the murder of her husband, which she believes was carried out by criminals hired by management at the mine. Bi was forcibly returned to Shanxi, and friends and fellow have been unable to contact her to determine her present condition. (CHRD)[ii]
Hangzhou Activist Seized in Beijing, Returned to Detention in Hometown

On the evening of October 3, Hangzhou petitioner-turned-activist Zhu Yingdi (朱瑛娣) was seized by Beijing policemen at a guesthouse near Yongdingmen in the capital. By October 5, when she was able to contact her husband, she had already been forcibly returned to Hangzhou, where she is currently being detained in nearby Anji County. According to Zhu’s husband, Mr. Dai (戴), the couple’s home in Hangzhou had been guarded around the clock by five men since September 15, and beginning September 30, they were not allowed to leave their home. They managed to escape on the night of October 1, which is when Zhu travelled to Beijing. Zhu has been petitioning and assisting other petitioners since the forced demolition of her home many years ago, and has been repeatedly summoned and harassed by local officials. (CHRD)[iii] ……. (more details)

Every day, after school, Li San San picks up his children from school, jams them all onto the back of his motorbike and drives them through the hills back home.

The kids cling onto each other and laugh as they try not to fall off.

On the main roads nearby, lines of coal trucks head off to the rest of China. The valleys are full of steelworks and heavy industry.

The Li family get back to their home, which is carved into the side of a hill.

Six-year-old Hong Wei eats his noodles and sits quietly in front of his school notebook.

He has a shy smile and hides in his sister’s lap when we try to talk to him.

Hong Wei was born with an extra thumb on his right hand. His elder sister Lixia, who’s 14, was born with a twisted left foot and walks with a heavy limp.

Like many people in Shanxi, this family is too poor to go to the doctors. The parents don’t know why their children were born with defects. They’re simply left to guess.

“The air isn’t good around here,” says Li San San. “When it’s bad, it’s difficult to breathe, it looks gloomy and smoggy out there.”

The province of Shanxi is one of the most polluted places in the world.

The rate of birth defects in this region is six times higher than the national average.

In January, the director of family planning in Shanxi, An Huanxiao, told the China Daily newspaper that the province’s high rate of birth defects was related to environmental pollution. …… (more details from BBC News)

Human rights activists speak out against a new regulation in China’s Shanxi province that they say targets the rights of petitioners.

HONG KONG— New legislation against petitioning which blocks residents of Taiyuan, in China’s Shanxi province, from seeking justice in Beijing is without legal basis, according to leading human rights activists in the country.

The legislation is in conflict with existing law, Yao Lifa, a rights advocate from China’s central Hubei province, said.

“The ‘Regulation on Petitions’ issued by China’s State Council clearly states that petitioners may voice their grievances to higher-level government offices,” Yao said.

“Sending local police to detain petitioners in Beijing is simply a way to avoid resolution of the problem.”

The legal wing of the city Communist Party committee in Taiyuan, capital of northern China’s Shanxi province, announced the new measures against petitioners earlier this week, according to the official Taiyuan Daily.

Law enforcement officers “will punish various illegal petitioning activities in accordance with the law” in locations that include Tiananmen Square, Zhongnanhai—the Party leadership compound—foreign embassies, and government representative offices, the news agency reported.

Petitioners from Taiyuan are also banned from central government leaders’ residences and from provincial and municipal government offices that don’t handle petitions. They are also prohibited from organizing demonstrations in Beijing.

Sichuan-based rights activist Liu Zhengyou said all local authorities, including those in Taiyuan, have attempted to thwart petitioning in Beijing by sending local police to round up petitioners.

“Petitioners who are caught will be put in illegal prisons, in detention, placed under house arrest, or locked in mental hospitals. But to do this violates China’s law,” Liu said.

Petitioners punished

China maintains a “Letter and Visit Office” at various levels of the government to deal with petitions.

But Liu Zhengyou said local officials are often responsible for the problems petitioners seek to address. And after petitioners voice their grievances, it is the petitioners who are punished, rather than the officials who wronged them.

Analysts with the China Information Center rights group predict another wave of petitioning across the country next March during the People’s Congress national convention.

China’s current system of dealing with petitions is ineffective because it relies on the moral values of its many officials, Yao said.

“China has a huge army of petitioners. The government has spent so much money on stopping them, but they are still disappointed and hopeless. I call upon the Chinese government to end its system of ‘rule of person’ and to switch to one of ‘rule by law.'”

Liu Zhengyou said the current system goes beyond inefficiency and specifically targets petitioners.

“In our country there is no mechanism to rectify errors committed by officials. If you go to petition in Beijing, the person who receives you has a connection with the police from the place where you are from, and works with them to persecute you,” Liu said.

“The new Taiyuan regulation is an open campaign against petitioners, and has recently appeared in Sichuan and many other places,” he said.

“The space for petitioners is becoming even narrower and more dangerous. This is an illegal crackdown.”

Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns the arrest of Guan Jian, a reporter with the Beijing-based weekly Wangluo Bao (Network News), while investigating allegedly corrupt real estate transactions in Taiyuan, the capital of the northern province of Shanxi. Guan was arrested on 1 December and has been held incommunicado ever since.

It is the second case this month of a journalist being arrested as a result of reporting on alleged abuse of authority and corruption in Shanxi. CCTV reporter Li Min has been held since 4 December.

“Abuse of authority by local officials is common in this region, which is biggest source of coal in China and is riddled with corruption,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It is becoming increasingly dangerous for journalists to investigate corruption allegations involving officials. We urge the central government to investigate these cases and punish those who are really guilty.”

Beijing News quoted Shanxi Public Security Department sources as saying Guan has himself been charged with corruption. He was arrested at a Taiyuan hotel by police officers from Zhangjiakou in the neighbouring province of Hebei. Video footage recorded by the hotel’s security camera shows him being forcibly taken away in a car by five men.

Guan, 49, went to Taiyuan at the end of November to investigate allegations of illegal land transactions involving a real estate company and local officials. Wangluo Bao has not named the company but it is reportedly headed by the deputy director of the Shanxi People’s Congress.

Wangluo Bao editor Ren Pengyu said to Beijing news he has had no contact with Guan since a call a few hours before he went missing in which he said he had just had a good interview.

Guan’s son Guan Yufei told the Reuters news agency he had not had news of his father since his abduction. “His friends couldn’t reach him, his colleagues couldn’t either,” he told Reuters. “At first we thought he had just gone on a reporting trip, but then after several days when he still wasn’t in touch, we got worried.”

Guan Yufei went to Taiyuan to look for his father but, aside from the hotel security camera footage, came back empty-handed.

CCTV reporter Li Min was arrested at her Beijing home on 4 December by four policemen who had been sent from Shanxi province by Shanxi prosecutor He Shusheng, whom Li had accused of abuse of authority in a report broadcast by CCTV. Like Guan, Li has herself been accused of corruption.

Dai Xiaojun, a reporter from the Shanxi branch office of West Times who took pictures of real and “fake” reporters collecting hush money from the Ganhe coal mine operation in Huobao, Shanxi Province, has recently became famous for exposing the cover-up of a mining accident.

According to beijingnews.com, Ganhe Coal Mine Company tried to cover-up a mining accident that killed a coal miner on September 20. Dai Xiaojun received a tip from a friend on September 25 that the mine company was giving out money to silence reporters, and that about 100 people had lined up to collect the hush money. Dai’s friend, a senior reporter from a newspaper in Shanxi Province who did not want to expose himself, called and suggested that Dai report the story and told Dai to take a camera with him.

Reporters lineup waiting for collecting hush money

Dai said that he had read similar reports before. However, he did not expect to see so many people at the scene. There were 38 people in the 4 pictures he took, and there were many who were not in the photos. The mine company claimed that only 28 people collected hush money, which means that they not only tried to cover-up the mining accident, but also the number of so called reporters who collected the hush money.

Dai sorted through the names iof those he had taken pictures of and found only two with reporter IDs issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication of the People’s Republic of China. The great majority were fake reporters.

Reporters sign-in paper

Dai said that he felt a cold chill run down his spine when he took the pictures. He thought about another reporter, Lan Chengzhang, who was beaten to death while investigating an illegal coal mine in Huiyuan County in Shanxi Province. He therefore feared that the mine owner and the fake reporters would attack him.

Escape Plan

Dai said that he and his coworker had worked up an escape plan. His coworker parked the car downstairs and started the engine, and was supposed to drive off as soon as he ran downstairs. Dai should throw the camera into the car if he was caught before getting into the car, and his coworker should just leave with the camera and call the police later.

Dai said that it only took him a few seconds to take pictures of a list with names of people who had collected hush money because he acted so fast. He took a few more pictures in the stairway. Those people did not realize what happened when he went back to the car. He and his coworker first drove in the opposite direction for fear of being followed. They then turned back.

Dai uploaded the pictures on the Zhi Bo Jian website and published an article to report his findings. He said many people had questioned his motive and reliability. He thought that’s normal because he had hit a sore spot in many people. He said he did not think too much about it once he decided to report the story.

Dai said that a few years ago he read a report about a mining accident in a village in Henan Province. He saw a picture of a tall building in a newspaper with a caption saying that a local mining accident had not been reported to the authorities, and that many people collected hush money inside the building.

Dai said that the picture impressed him so much, and he was wondering why the picture could only be taken outside a building. He wondered if his camera lens could get inside the building to take more pictures of real scenes with real people collecting hush money.

Zan Aizong, formerly a Zhejiang Province reporter for China Ocean Newspaper said that giving reporters “hush money” is a common practice for industries and government officials. Some people would rather pay money to prevent something bad from being exposed to the public.

Zan said that as long asthe General Administration of Press and Publication exists, similar incidents like “hush money,” “fake reporters and fake news reports,” “Sanlu’s tainted milk scandal cover-up,” “earthquake damages cover-up,” and so on will continue to happen. He said that if everyone is living in an environment with untrue news reporting, people will lose their ability to make good judgments and society will become worse. He said the use of hush money is unlikely to happen if non-government-run media outlets are allowed to exist.

Hu Jia, Beijing-based AIDS activist, received a phone call from Gao Zhisheng, China’s most prominent human rights lawyer, at approximately 9:30 p.m. on October 28.

It was the first time Gao has contacted the outside world since being secretly arrested by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) regime’s authorities on September 22.

Not long before that, Gao wrote an open letter to members of the U.S. Congress condemning the CCP for having increased the persecution of religious and human rights defenders before the 2008 Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Beijing.

Hu Jia told our reporter, “I got a phone call from an unknown number on the night of October 28. The area code belongs to Xian City, Shaanxi Province. I recognized lawyer Gao’s voice right away. I’m very familiar with his northern Shaanxi accent. I was very excited and called out: ‘Lawyer Gao!'”

Mr. Hu reported their conversation, which lasted only one and a half minutes.

Gao warned Hu Jia not to take risks to visit his family, otherwise, the authorities would seek revenge against him. Hu reported, “Lawyer Gao asked me not to go. He also asked me to think more about my family and take good care of Zeng Jinyan and our unborn baby right now.”

Hu told Gao that “Although I’m in unlawful detention, the first thing I’ll do after I get freedom is to visit your wife and Gege (Gao’s daughter).”

Gao repeated, “I know you won’t listen to me on this, but you’d better not go.” Hu Jia responded,”Your wife and kids are all in fear.” Gao replied, “They should be better now.” Gao also told Hu that he would be staying in Shaanxi Province and Shanxi Province for a while to take care of something.

Hu passed on the news to Gao that Huang Yan, a Hubei Province-based human rights defender and Gao’s close family friend, was violently kidnapped by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau’s “National Security” Squad on September 22. She was released on October 23, after a one-month detention at Jin Zhou City, Hubei Province. Gao replied, “Please relay my thanks to her for what she has done. I have to go.” The phone call was then cut off.

Hu Jia pointed out, “Under these circumstances, the main purpose of the authorities allowing Gao to call me was to relieve the pressure from the outside to save lawyer Gao. The authorities also did this to cut off my connection with him. As Gao mentioned clearly for me to cut off the contact with his family, this is the most important thing to the authorities.”

Hu Jia said he was relieved to hear Gao Zhisheng’s voice again. He is optimistic about Gao’s situation. He predicts that Gao will go back to Beijing and be together with his family soon.

Gao Zhisheng wrote one open letter to the National Peoples’ Congress in 2004 and two open letters to Hu Jintao and Wen Jibao in 2005, before his open letter to the members of the U.S. Congress, requesting that they stop the persecution toward Falun Gong practitioners. In December 2006, he was sentenced to three years in prison for “subversion of the state,” with a five-year “suspended sentence,” and denial of all of his constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech and free association, for one year. Gao and his family have been under strict surveillance by the authorities ever since, and they have been repeatedly harassed. Thugs have beaten his daughter, apparently under the direction of someone—or some faction of—the CCP.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A village official in northern China cancelled classes at a local school for several days to honour the anniversary of his mother’s death with on-campus performances of traditional opera.

Last week, the local primary school in Baodian, a village in Shanxi province, became a de facto theatre, with local residents watching traditional opera performed on a “towering” stage set up on campus grounds, according to a local newspaper report that was carried in Thursday’s Beijing News.

“Some of the school’s classrooms were locked, while others had been converted into living quarters for a troupe of actors,” the report said.

“Because of the opera, students could not go to classes, so the school arranged a holiday,” the paper added, citing students.

The official was tight-lipped when tracked down, the report said, telling the paper: “This is my private family business. You have no right to interfere.”

Once denounced as “feudal” in Mao-era China, Confucian notions of filial piety and honouring dead family members have made a comeback in recent decades, and are particularly strong in remote rural areas.

In April, local authorities in Changyuan county in central China announced they would vet officials’ filial piety and family values when deciding on promotions.

Jia Jia, the former General Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Association of Scientists and Technology Experts, was granted refugee credentials officially by the United Nations. He has acquired refugee status on September 25.

Jia Jia announced his split from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when he visited Taiwan with a tourist group. He testified to the massive wave of withdrawals from the CCP in China due to the appearance of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party . He also confirmed that different levels of officials, cadre members, soldiers and citizens were determined to separate from the CCP because they saw the nature of the CCP on account of its tyranny.

Jia Jia said he is grateful to the U.N. for approving his refugee status. He sees this as support for him and the Chinese citizens. He said that his dream is to realize democracy in China. Then he will go back to China.

In the past year, due to pressure and interference by the CCP, Jia was forced to wander about in different Asian countries. He was followed everywhere by special agents. He was almost repatriated on three occasions.

Jia said the fact that he was granted refugee status represented that the U.N. Refugee Agency has won the battle against the ferocious CCP.

Jia Jia said, “The CCP regime will collapse in the reign of Hu-Wen (Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao). The countdown of the 2008 Olympics is the countdown of the CCP’s extinction.” He called upon Hu and Wen to lead Chinese citizens to withdraw from the CCP and bring hope to China.

In the interview, Jia Jia thanked those who had helped him in the past. “I thank Falun Gong practitioners, the Chinese inside and outside of China, and human rights supporters for their help and support. I thank all the democratic countries on earth; I also thank the U.N. Refugee Agency for standing on the side of justice. The status I was granted represents the U.N.’s affirmation for the Chinese people and their support for world democracy.”

New York, September 24, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor four courageous journalists from Russia, Pakistan, China, and Mexico with 2007 International Press Freedom Awards in November. Each has put their life or liberty on the line to report on stories of global significance.

Dmitry Muratov of Russia, Mazhar Abbas of Pakistan, Adela Navarro Bello of Mexico, and Gao Qinrong of China have reported on the news, despite death threats, harassment, and imprisonment.

Tom Brokaw, longtime anchor of NBC News, award-winning reporter, and best-selling author, will receive CPJ’s Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for lifetime achievement. Brokaw has been a member of CPJ’s board of directors since 1993.

“This is an exceptional group of courageous journalists from some of the most dangerous countries for reporters on earth,” CPJ Board Chairman Paul Steiger said in announcing the awards. “We honor their commitment to reporting the news in the face of tremendous risk.”

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said: “These journalists are being honored not only for the extraordinary stories they have reported but also because of their courageous fight for press freedom. Muratov, Abbas, and Navarro have fought for justice on behalf of their slain colleagues, while Gao has not been deterred by eight years of prison.

“Autocrats, drug traffickers, and corrupt officials have all been exposed by these enterprising journalists. They inspire us with their bravery. With these awards, CPJ hopes to spotlight countries with poor press freedom records and strengthen protections for journalists worldwide.”

The awards will be presented at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Tuesday, November 20. David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief of Reuters, will chair the black-tie dinner. NBC News Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams will host.

2007 CPJ International Press Freedom Awardees ( excerpt) :

Gao Qinrong, who worked as a reporter for China’s official Xinhua News Agency in the northern province of Shanxi, was released last year after spending eight years in prison.

In 1998, the investigative reporter exposed a scam irrigation project in his home province; Xinhua didn’t publish the report but it was circulated in the internal edition of People’s Daily, which is distributed to Communist Party leaders. When the story went on to attract national media attention from other news outlets, local officials blamed Gao. He was charged with a laundry list of crimes, including embezzlement, fraud, and even pimping, and sentenced to a 12-year jail term.

After his early release for good behavior— he ran a prison newspaper— Gao gave lengthy interviews to Chinese and international news organizations. Before it was shut down domestically, coverage of his case drew new attention to the issue of press freedom in China.

Gao is struggling to get the charges against him dropped so he can return to working as a reporter.

It was reported and widely reprinted in Chinese official websites and Blogs that there are 55 kinds of toxic food in China, ranging from daily rice, flour, vegetables, meat and eggs, fruits to famous seasonings and gradients, formulations, etc. [1, 2] Vegetables with very toxic residual pesticide were labeled as “harmless” vegetables and widely sold.

A. Rice, Flour and manufactured food (4)

1. Highly Carcinogen rice (old rice, rice for peasant workers) and manufactured food made of such rice. Eating this kind of rice will lead to nausea, vomiting, and cancer in the long-run.
2. Bleached flour: contains excessive amount of oxidized benzoformyl, causing fatigue, dizzy, amenesia, more dreams and neuroasthenia
3. Black-hearted moon cake – moon cakes with fertilizers
4. Dumplings made with unwanted meat and unwashed cabbages in Xinda Food Factory, Town of Panzhuang, Ninghe County, Tianjin City[3]

1. Vegetables with excessive residual pesticide- “harmless” vegetables in Zhangbei county, Hebei province with highly-toxic residual pesticide, such as omethoate and methamidophos. These vegetables were labeled “harmless” and claimed to have never been sprayed with pesticides. These pesticides were used because they are cheap and strong, making good-looking vegetables that sales very well. The peasants told the journalists that they never eat these vegetables. [4]
2. Potatoes smoked by sulfur
3. Sichuan kimchi preserved by prohibited industry salt
4. Toxic leeks sprayed by “3911” pesticide, these leeks are thicker, wider, longer and with deeper color
5. “Fresh” shoot preserved by sulfur and industry salt
6. Sinister bean sprouts that were raised using growth hormone, rootless agent, bleached by Na2S2O4 [5]
7. Toxic longans bleached and smoked with sulfur
8. Strawberry and monkey hunting peach (Actinidia) that are fast-matured by growth hormone
9. Dried fruits with large amount of bacteria (100 times higher than national standard)
10. Preserved red dates with formaldehyde

Recent climate anomalies in China has caused ceaseless droughts in some areas and continuous floods in other places. Experts have pointed out that the global greenhouse effect and other human factors were the main reasons for the disasters.

Continuous droughts and high temperatures have been afflicting many areas including Hunan, Jiangxi, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, Xinjiang, Fujian provinces and Shanghai City, with Jiangxi and Hunan being the hardest hit. The drought in the mid-eastern part of Inner Mongolia has lasted a long time, and the situation keeps worsening.

According to the latest official figures, this year 23 million acres of cultivated area suffered from the droughts, which is 2.7 million acres higher than average. The droughts affected 21.7 million acres of crops, among which 7.8 million acres are severely affected, and 1.4 million acres completely withered. The drought has also caused a fresh water shortage for 5.88 million people and 4.7 million cattle.

Since this summer, heavy rainfalls have caused floods in many parts of China, especially in Chongqing City as well as Sichuan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, Guangxi and Hubei provinces. So far the flood has killed nearly 700 people, affected 120 million, and caused US$7 billion economic losses.

Jiangxi is experiencing the worst drought in 50 years, with 1.06 million people facing a drinking water shortage, and 1.3 million acres of crops affected by the drought. The drought is still worsening, and is spreading quickly from the middle to the rest of the province.

According to latest figures, from April 1 to July 30 this year, the average rainfalls in Jiangxi is 594 mm, 32 percent below that in the same period of past years, and 20 percent blow that in the same period of 2003.

In Hunan Province the drought has continued for four weeks, which omens a dry autumn. Several million people are facing a drinking water crisis. Rainfall is down by 25 percent compared to previous years, leaving half of the two million water reservoir facilities empty.

According to the Hunan Meteorological Bureau’s forecast, the temperate will reach up to 40° C (104° F) in most of August.

Since June, high temperatures and low rainfall have affected the northeast Heilongjiang and some other areas in the province. The provincial Sanjiang Plain area is afflicted by a summer drought, which has not occurred in that area for many years. Some areas experienced over 40 continuous rainless days. A lot of farmlands are covered with a 30-centimeter (11.8 inches) deep layer of dry soil.

In Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian Province, high temperature as lasted for 31 days by July 30, the longest period since the city’s first official weather record was made in 1880. In many other parts of Fujian, hot weather has also lasted for 26 to 35 days.

In Zhejiang the continuous hot weather has lead to water shortages in many places and the situation is becoming more serious.

Recently Shanghai has suffered continuous hot days with temperature as high as 39° C (102° F) or even higher.

According to a meteorological department report, Shanghai’s temperature peeked at 39.6° C (103° F) on July 29. The last time Shanghai had the same temperature was on July 25, 2003, and it broke a 63 years’ record.

So far nearly 700 people have died as a result of the flood, lightning and mudslides across China. The flood has affected up to 120 million people with economic losses amounting to $7 billion.

Chongqing City recently was hit by the heaviest rainfalls in the century. Millions of people were affected and nearly 100 were killed or missing. The losses reached 2.978 billion yuan ($0.39 billion).

Guangxi Province was also hit by continuous torrential rainfalls, resulting in mountain torrents and river flooding which affected 8.3 million people and caused a direct economic loss of 9.84 million yuan ($1.3 million).

From July 27 to 31, heavy rains hit Sanmenxia City of Henan Province, the south part of Shanxi Province, middle southern parts of Shannxi Province. Serious rainstorms and landslides have occurred in many areas. According to preliminary statistics, 57 people were killed and 43 were missing as of August 10.

Shanxi Provincial Communication Administration recently issued a new regulation restricting mass text messaging (Short Message Service) over cell phones. The regulation mandates self-censorship by information services providers and requires government approval for dissemination of content pertaining to national security and social unrests.

The regulation titled “Opinion on Further Strengthening the Control of Text Messaging Dissemination” that was issued on July 18, 2007 by Shanxi Provincial Communication Administration. Information services businesses must review the content in the acquisition, development, processing and dissemination of information and shall not provide any information, the dissemination of which is prohibited by the state, reported Xinhua News Agency.

“The Opinion provides that the dissemination of certain important content must be pre-approved by relevant government department before such dissemination. For content pertaining to national security, social stability, people’s livelihood, personal safety, major natural disasters, public emergencies, if the dissemination thereof is to be province-wide, the content provider must present the written opinion of the provincial government or provincial leaders. If such content is to be disseminated citywide, the content provider must present the written opinion of local government or local government leaders.”